Crude oil fire at a refinery

At 7:20 am firefighters responded to a reported fire in a heat distillation tower at an oil refinery at 3001 Marshall Ave in the Tidelfats area of Tacoma.

The first arriving company found a sizeable smoke plume and fire in a large heater tank and tower used in the manufacturing process to convert crude oil into other petroleum products such as gasoline, asphalt and jet fuel. Operationally, plant personnel shut-off the flow of crude to the machine at the inception of the fire and efforts were directed at cooling the tank and nearby equipment to mitigate potential explosion or collapse hazards. After about 90 minutes the remaining crude oil in the tank burned itself out. The fire was contained to a single tower. The cause of the fire is under investigation and there were no injuries to report.

Requests for service - March 2015

TFD Incidents by Initial Dispatch Type

TFD - Incidents	March	2015 (YTD)	2014 (YTD)
Fire	111	257	221
Emergency Medical	3,156	8,975	8,419
All Other (e.g. hazardous conditions, search and rescue, automatic fire alarms)	544	1,547	1,331
Total	3,811	10,779	9,971

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Protecting People, Property & the Environment

FDCares Program

Did you know that TFD is one of five departments in the state of Washington that has an FDCares program?

What is FDCares? It's a community assistance program developed to help people better understand their health care options, and to address health and safety issues before they become emergencies. Check out the video for more details on this innovative program.

Free CPR Classes

Need to take a CPR Class? Free classes are available twice a month to those living in Tacoma, Fife and Fircrest. See you there!

Duplex fire on North "K" Street

Incident Date:  3/24/15
Issuing Officer:  Joe Meinecke
Incident Location:  616 N “K” St
Incident Type:  Duplex Fire

Narrative:  At 9:09 am firefighters from stations 1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 12, 13, 16, and 17 responded to a reported structure fire.

The first arriving company found flames and heavy smoke showing from the back of the approximately 3,000 square foot two-story duplex. Crews protected near-by exposures and battled the fire that raced up the interior walls (balloon type construction) into the attic space for over an hour before bringing it under control.

No occupants were home at the time of the fire and the Red Cross was requested to provide relocation assistance to four of the six adults displaced from the incident.

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

   

Confined Space Rescue Training

Over the last several shifts, TFD’s Technical Rescue Team has been conducting confined space rescue training. Training objectives for the 36 Operations and 24 Technician level Technical Rescue Team participants include initial on-scene operations, air monitoring, ventilation, communications, supplied air breathing apparatus (SABA), patient packaging, and rope systems for safely gaining access to, and removing a patient from a permit required confined space.

Tacoma Fire Department graduates five paramedics

Five Tacoma Firefighters graduated from our nationally accredited paramedic training program in a special ceremony this afternoon. The graduates successfully completed 18 months of rigorous academic course work and hands-on training in their pursuit of National Registry Paramedic Certification.

Over the course of the program, students worked their way through nearly 20,000 pages of assigned reading, answering over 13,000 test questions on the material. The hands-on portion of the curriculum involved numerous clinical hours in field and hospital settings, and demonstrated competency at a variety of emergency medical techniques. Congratulations!